Starting the Baths of Caracalla

  When I visited Rome a couple of years ago as part of a university trip, one of the places we visited was the Bathouse of Caracalla in the south end of the city. An enormous leisure complex commissioned by the Roman emperor Septimus Severus, finished by Caracalla and first opened in 216 AD, I became deeply inspired to maybe consider building this place in the digital space as a later project. I'm sort of kicking myself I didn't consider this as my choice of major project in my third year of university as it perfectly aligns with my interests: History, architecture, grand buildings and highly ornate architecture.

  Honestly spa complex is the best way of describing this site. As well as the various public bathrooms that these structures normally had where you'd move from a cold pool (frigidarium) to a medium-temperature pool (tepidarium) to a hot pool (caldarium), the bathhouse constructed by Caracalla had all kinds of leisure facilities. Gymnasia, libraries, gardens, saunae and even an amphitheatre are featured either within the building or on the surrounding grounds. The whole complex was walled off from the rest of the city in a great square dominated by decorated gardens, and while it looks like one would enter through the circular dome, the most likely entrance was closer to the gymnasia situated on the wings. I'd almost describe this building as the pinnacle of Roman pleasure-seeking. Like one of these resort hotels with the main difference being a lack of board for any attendants.

  It's not just massive by land area, it's also a structure that is enormously tall for the age. The columns I have made so far reach a height of some eight metres, but the baths themselves possessed columns (of Egyptian marble no less) could be as high as twelve! Add to this the columns would merely support a second floor or a high ceiling, so the building could be two or three times the height.

  The great dome of the caldarium, something of a downsized version of the dome of the Parthenon, would make the caldarium itself some four or five times the height of the columns that supported its  various entrances.

  For a classical building the scale was just staggering.

  As this is such a massive building it's already taken me a few days to build just the geometry for the caldarium. The positive of a construction project like this is I can likely use various elements for the building already elsewhere. Roman architecture was very fond of decorated columns and a uniform structure, as the Romans adopted the Greek idea that uniformity was an expression of divinity. So to get those done first feels like it should make the rest of the project a lot easier with a lot of possibility for recycling.

  My current plan is to break up the construction into several components. Key locations in the structure will class ans modules in and of themselves and I've been thinking of releasing elements like the columns and the archways to marketplaces like what ArtStation has unveiled not too long ago. I've already had at least one sale already.

  I'm currently debating wither to include a translucent geometry for filled pools of water. It is definitely a distinct possibility so as to give the feeling this was a living building. I am admittedly taking a bit of artistic license with the project in that designs for what the building could have looked like seem to vary wildly between artists from the first inspirations drawn up in the 19th century (which would have been inclined to include neoclassical features) to modern-day historical recreations. I'm a sucker for the artistry that comes from Romanticism even if I have my reservations about the ideas of the movement, so I may take the Romantic angle of the building mostly as an experiment in creative design.

  I'm looking forward to pushing this project further. A good portion of the Caldarium's ground floor is finished, from there I plan to decorate the upper levels which would included the recessed grid pattern the Romans used for concrete domes.

  I can already see that architectural detail being a fun design prospect.

  For the Caldarium specifically, the current checklist for its details are so far: The ledge for the upepr floors, the windows, the exterior recesses for the windows, wall trims, wall decoration and the structures for the entrances into other parts of the bathhouse. Which might be easier to make than what I have designed so far largely on the basis the most lavishly decorated sections of such large buildings tended to be the ground floor and the ceiling. Further up on a multi-level room the decoration might be more spartan as a visitor's eyes might not focus so much on these areas.

  Although trust me to take on designing one of the iconic displays of extravagance by the Roman Emperors of the third century. Septimus Severus was the third emperor after emperor Commodus, A famously hedonistic man who saw cinema fame for his portrayal in the film Gladiator who cared more about filling his time with lavish games no matter how much it cost the city of Rome, whose death marked the beginning of Rome's slow decline as the master of the world and might have been the start of the empire turning its own interests inward and ignoring the rest of the world.

  That kind of behaviour usually precludes falling into obscurity and complaining of how you've fallen into irrelevance somehow, but it doesn't half create some beautiful buildings sometimes.

Ridgewell Castle Chapel

  One of the primary focal points of castle life is the humble chapel. A place of community for everyone without access to the lord's great hall. Where knight and peasant alike can revere the divine together (unless the knights have their own chapel). These buildings were expensive constructions due to the embellishments made both inside and outside, it was kind of neccessary given that even as structures inside fortifications, they were still places of worship. Glass windows, a wooden alter, tapestries and a lavishly decorated interior. So they weren't always large buildings, but were often well decorated.

  It was somewhat difficult to find a modest example of a castle chapel, those that weren't part of castles later abandoned or integrated into the keep were expanded and embellished as the importance of a castle as a defensive structure lessened towards the end of the Medieval era.

  For Ridgewell Castle I decided to not go too fancy, as this is a castle watching for threats from outside, with amassing wealth only being a priority in the rare times when threats of attack were less likely than remote. But on reflection this current design is hardly the best I could have done for the kind of atmosphere I was working toward. So I might revisit the design later as this is one of the more important buildings of castle life.

  For the chapel design I went for a whitewashed surface as this was a popular thing to do to decorate bare stone. It's a common trope for depicting the middle ages as a time full of bare stone buildings, but more commonly a building would have a whitewash. A lime and chalk paint that was easy to make and cheap to apply. Lime whitewash goes very well with masonry and can make the building much nicer and brighter than basic exposed stone. An important point to consider as this chapel is located far to the north where there would be long dark winters and only a mildly sunny summer. So it would work against the castle's habitability to be drab and gloomy with worn stone.

  The northern location is also the reason for the angle of the chapel's roof. Situated so far north, there's going to be lots of snow and lots of rain. Lots of rain requires good drainage, lots of snow means lots of weight will be put on the roof of the building during the winter as snow settles. A steep roof will make it more difficult for snow to cling to the tiles, taking pressure off the sides further near the apex. The extra 'lip' is useful for drainage. The beams that hold the roof up can rest flatly on the walls of the building while you have an extra section to project drainage off the side.

  Castle roofs in Ridgewell Castle follow this idea due to the location, especially the towers where there are actually two walls - the protruding battlements and then the main body wall. But I find it is also quite aesthetically attractive so it might be very useful on much taller buildings while smaller buildings like huts or shops have a more flush design, as this technique means more money is spent on timber.

  Before I go back to the chapel however I need to play out the rest of the castle as otherwise I'll be stuck on detailing and never make any progress. It wasn't a complete time-sink however as it gave me practice for modular components and elements that could be shared with other parts of the castle including the keep. For other services in Ridgewell I will need, besides reworking the keep:

• stables
• blacksmith
• stonemason
• apothecary
• barracks
• armoury
• granary
• kitchen

  Maybe a couple of other buildings that will come to mind.

  The stable is already partially blocked out. Occupying a position at the far end from the gatehouse that can be seen on one of my earlier progress shots. Current progress however still leaves plenty of other buildings, some of which I suppose could be placed against or within present structures like the tower opposite the keep. As can be sen below.

  The YouTube channel "Shadiversity" has been an incredible resource for this project so far. Shad himself is a house builder by trade who has in recent years applied his knowledge into understanding how castles were constructed and how they function. He does his own research, both primary and secondary such as an authentically-approached wooden castle for his children in his back garden, and has a following as enthusiastic about castles as he is. A good deal of the inspiration I've had on roofing inspiration, and my own investigations, has come from how own research into why many castle roofs appeared to flare outward. It even gave me ideas on how Ridgewell Castle's towers would be roofed.

Return to Architecture with the Fundamentals of Castle Design

  When I hit a rut with character design recently I took a new approach after some refresher time with one of my favourite genres of video game: The city/nation builder. It gave me time to reflect on what I was interested in with 3D design. While I am still willing to happily dabble with character design, I've realised that I've been deeply fascinated in architecture.

  Going back to those roots I continued a fantasy theme by taking on the design of a castle. These are quite fascinating buildings that entertain a passion I've had for cities. A castle is not simply a structure in and of itself. It is a form of settlement, with the lord's keep as a centrepoint but can host several other separate buildings like kitchens, stables, doctors, places of worship, gathering centres, armouries, barracks, prisons and guest houses.

  They were designed as places of power. Centers of control for a local lord and a headquarters for a local garrison. From the first castles of the 11th century to the chateau-forts that followed the dominance of the cannon and the subsequent obsolescence of their ability to protect. Their design varies wildly from location-to-location. Climates and availability of materials can greatly influence their design. But they also have a particular fondness in role-play gaming like the tabletop or computer RPGs as somewhere for players to call home. Not just because of the prestige of the structure and somewhere to receive guests, but the aforementioned fact they contained many facilities from stable to kitchens, putting everything an adventurer (or adventuring group) would need in once place.

  In short, nothing seems to make a player feel safer than to be within two or three layers of curtain wall and all the resources they could ever need to keep themselves supplied and prepared.

  At present, the only part of the current fort I dub "Castle Ridgewell" near completion is the curtain wall. As I wanted to balance between fantasy and realism (in a Game of Thrones kind of way), I pored through just what kind of tricks were used in the construction of the typical castle, and what architectural features were common as these were primarily fortifications.

  I've had to bear in mind the thickness of the walls, the use of machicolations (an afternoon's work by themselves), where any potential enemy might reach the walls. Layers of defence, how to funnel various forces, defensive tricks and the strategic location of various assets. This is still a home, but one that needs to be well protected.

  This particular example is imagined as something that has been held by a family for something like four generations. Not obscenely wealthy as the owner is something like a baron or a count, but with a home in a key position on the borders of the kingdom. Not luxurious, but definitely heavily reinforced. So my plan is to not go crazy with curtain walls even though further walls can be made by recycling the assets I have already designed. The towers for instance, can be switched form being enclosed towers to open at the top (though how this is done I should have programmed in before duplicating).

I have considered roadmap for the castle's development giving me an idea of what to do next:

• Redesign the keep's layout.
• Block out outer defenses.
• Block out resource buildings (chapel, blacksmith, granary, armoury).
• Resculpt rock face in Zbrush.
• Block out possible props.

I plan to stream the project's progress for anyone interested in watching this come together. I've got the software for it and it's good to get what I'm working on out there. Star Drake Projects will make a comeback after a long while of inactivity in the near future.

External sites

https://www.twitch.tv/draco176

WIP: Concept art for Human Warrior

In recent weeks I've taken an interest back in drawing with Photoshop. It's been useful for generating ideas for character modelling practice which I have been keen to develop. To get a better idea of how to put my ideas across I've been studying sketch-style concept pieces, trying to work out just how to get a more convincing design and image, especially when it comes to the face.

The left-hand face below is when I started earlier today. Rather dissatisfied with how flat it looked. I looked online to get some inspiration, coming across a rather nice sketchy look. Using this painting as a basis I took a very different approach to create what would become the face on the right-hand side. It started with just the face, blocking out large patches of shadow and filling in the gaps with detail such as eyes, mouth and wrinkles. I thought it came out so well I tried the technique on the hair and headband, resulting in a very different hairstyle (and face) when you compare the two side by side.

It's been surprising to figure our the difference comes from one afternoon of analysis.

There is still plenty to work on with the image. His lower body has only been blocked out. His sword-hand and the attached hilt are somewhat completed and his cloak only has some basic blocking to it. After that comes colour.

Fantasy World Map now with Cities

  It's been an interesting divergence lately to work on maps for fantastical locations. After my last posting I had two key ideas to make the map more authentic.

  The first was to create a more thematic-looking set of icons for the various locations. Instead of Ordinance Survey like set of icons I had the idea of shorthand visuals: One hut for hamlets, two for villages, three for towns, a mage's tower for an academy, castles, castle-towns and do on to better fit the more old-time mythical style of the rest of the map. The sits sit much more neatly than the original black marks, and I have a few brushes for future projects of a similar style.

  The second idea was partially inspired by how some fantasy maps embellish a representation of an important site. A recent example being the stand-out representation of Erebor on a map from Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. On this map, that focus was given to the capitals: The port and temple of Kirstan, the royal citadel of KharKanas, the fortress-gates of Drongo and the marbled spires of Istri. While KharKanas is much larger compared to the others, I figure it justified as the Conglomerate Empire has a whole continent to itself.

The client was certainly happy with the end product and it has got me thinking about the environmental or architectural side of my creative ideas.

(WIP) A Fantasy World Map

One of the projects I've received lately is a world map for the setting of my brother's upcoming D&D campaign. Can't say I've done much of this sort of thing save for the occasional more science fiction like map, but it was good drawing practice all the same.

The current deal is for a map that can be printed on A3, so I'm working in a CYMK format at 300 DPI. It's pretty big. It could have been A2 but by the sound of where he's playing his game an A2-sized map might be too big for the table.

I wouldn't call this finished though. The world could do with roads connecting the various settlements and after some discussion with him I'm considering reworking the locations on the map to better fit the current graphics. Special thumbnails have been discussed representing the world's various capital cities or important locations and maybe the sea could do with something like waves.

Or sea serpents... The world doesn't stop at the edges of the map.